Avenue Interviews: HeyDeon |Get To Know Long Beach’s Next Torchbearer Of R&B and G-Funk|

Eastside Long Beach is home to HeyDeon. Deon Williams Jr. incredibly talented artist that is driven by his moods. He has elevated his vocals over the past two years, progression is a critical aspect to him. His dedication to creating based off of his moods instills a genuineness in every song. The feeling is authentic, he is recording what he’s living.

Honesty in his words and delivery are felt”. The feelings he invokes for the listener when he howls lyrics “I ain’t perfect, but I’m worth it, and it’s okay if you don’t know your purpose” on Nothing 2 Prove, are second to none. His lyrics are open, they allow him to get personal. Music is primarily done for his own well-being, which explains why his songs are so truthful.

“I hope my music touch yo(ur) soul, I’ll give you me until I’m gone”

Deon croons on the end of “Briq” in a cadence similar to the voice of G Funk, and Long Beach legend Nate Dogg.

That’s why each song sounds real, there is new context and expression within each new offering.

With two solid projects out, Sucker For Love and Long Story Short, plus additional singles. HeyDeon does not oversaturate, his drops are rare and always top the last. We spoke on his latest single, the projects, his production, the “Briq” video, and more below:

You just dropped a new single, “Get Free”, how did that come together?

I was just chilling at my girlfriend house, I wrote the song but it didn’t have any production to it. I sang it to her, she said it was good, and wanted to hear it again. I waited awhile then got some production to go around it because my mans Michael. I sung it again with the production, it was crazy. Ever since then I been sitting on it, I already knew it was a good song. It’s personal to me, it doesn’t really matter what everybody else may think about the song. I know it was for my well-being. It’s just me.

It seems like that’s the approach you take with a lot of your music, it sounds like you’re doing it for yourself and exactly what you want to hear.

It’s me. It was a time that I would try to fit in with the sonic stuff going on just to stay afloat, making what was the trend. I got over that, I started making songs for me and it’s really been good since then.

When did you really get started?

I started in Summer 2014, going into my college life. I was just playing around, not serious at all, dropping random mixtapes, hopping on other people beats and stuff. Eventually I had some friends that were giving me production, that’s when I really started to learn as I go. Got some advice from people, I like feedback. You could bash it, say it’s trash, just let me know what I need to fix. All your homies will say it’s good then it’s never about to help you. I had cool people around me to tell me ‘that’s not it’. One day I was like I’m about to get better over time, everybody starts off trash, you just got to learn.

How has your sound changed since you first started?

Oh, crazy, completely changed. I was only rapping, just bars over like “Quiet Storm” type beats. Doing like Chief Keef drill type music back then. It’s way different.

A word for it, let me think. Honest.

HeyDeon on describing his music in one word.

If you could describe how it sounds now, how would you?

That’s a question I always struggle with. I think my sound is still the same since 2018, it’s mainly focused around beautiful guitar and piano. It’s about being able to be the most personal and vulnerable in my songs now. A word for it, let me think. Honest. It’s one story, everybody got a story, you just need to find your way to put that into your songs.

You got two projects out now, Sucker For Love and your first one, Long Story Short. How would you describe each one of those?

Long Story Short was me making that change from rapping. You get me rapping that intro and the rest is majority singing. I got to the point I wasn’t making music I actually listen to on a daily basis. I want to make something I can listen to myself and enjoy, rather than trying to make a sound for the city. As far as the progression goes between projects, the production is always there, the lyrics are always there. It’s mainly delivery and growing with my voice. Trying to figure out what notes work for me. All practice, that’s all.

With production you normally stick with the same dudes, how did you tap in with them all?

Majority of them I went to school with. Cassius I went to school with. In the beginning it was a lot of people I knew already. Now, like Mitch Geist I met him over soundcloud and ever since then we’ve been homies. Michael Akhari same with him, he came around during the mixtape stage as well. Even my other homie Nick, these dudes are all far away; New York, Boston, and New Orleans. They aren’t from out here but I just feel their sound fits me the back, thankfully we have internet access. Just met off socials really and here we are. Dunoise and Edwin I met them over the line too. With me I’m kind of hard on production, I like to use stuff that moves me after the first listen. You could send me like 30 beats and I’ll probably only choose one, maybe none of them even. You got to bring me something that’ll spark me. Lately the people I work with they always give me something they know fits me best. I always want them to be themselves and bring their sound to the table. We’re just coming together in collaboration and we win as a team.

What are some of your favorite songs you’ve made up to this point?

It’s a lot. I was a big fan of Sucker For Love, all those songs hit me all the time. My favorite song I wrote on there was “Gelato”, that was like a 5 minute song but it keeps you listening the whole time. Then “Nothing 2 Prove”, “Briq”, “Dreams”, there’s so many I can choose. It’s moods so whatever mood I’m in I know I have a song for that. My mood determines the song. If I don’t finish that day, that’s it, I can’t recreate that mood. If I write a song I got to finish it, if not it won’t be the same. I’m about to be trying to think how I was feeling that day and it just wouldn’t be authentic.

You dropped the video for “Briq” like a month ago, how did that come together?

“Briq” I already knew what I wanted to do with it, I’m glad we waited on it for some time. My first thing is places, like staple places I need to shoot at. I want to keep everything Eastside Long Beach, I don’t be on the North like that. It’s me, everybody knows I’m Eastside through and through. I want to make sure I hit the spots everyone steps foot on. The rest was trying to find a way to be in unison. At first, I was supposed to Crip walk at every place we recorded, I didn’t at every place. It’s all about making it fun at the end of the day. Goldby7 and I are able to capture that every time. He’s the best! We’ve grown together, figuring it out as we go. I don’t got a lot of money so it’s all about budgeting. These are low budget videos but at the same time it may look like the highest production, with the resources. We just got an idea, a nice camera, and someone who could edit well. It’s the execution of it all.

Which experiences up until now have been the best for you with music?

I feel like I’m always hitting milestones, always achieving something to myself. I just want to continue that, I don’t have many moments pinpointed. I think more like, ‘last year was a great year, how can I top that?’ I can’t really choose a favorite moment, all of them are my favorites. Releasing a project is a favorite moment, having a song come out exactly how you want it to, those are staples to me that make me happy. I take it a day at a time.

What do you got on the way?

I don’t really have a big catalog of music, like 18 songs tops over the years. I don’t like to oversaturate. I want to come when I feel like I’m ready. Going back to how I create songs with moods, it’s the same thing with dropping. I have to wake up one day and feel like releasing this today. It’s a feeling, rather than me being strategic. I like to be organic with my releases, same with recording music. I don’t record everyday like other people probably are. I may write a song here and there, of course I love music but I like to live life and experience before I write. I don’t want to be recreating the same song every time, I want to make new moments and have new topics. Not the same old, same old.

Is there anything I might have missed you’d like to add?

Let the people know I am writing and working on stuff. I can’t say a for sure project, it may be a project, it may be something else. You never know with me. It’s always something spontaneous. Got to catch you off guard. I feel like Sucker For Love can still be listened to, you can find something new each listen, digest that for the time being. Whenever I drop something new I will make sure to top that. With me it’s all about progression with each song. I want to progress every song in some aspect. Even though the music is for me I want to catch the listener’s attention and for them to be engaged in what I have to say.